Question 7
After an interesting and mind-boggling couple of hours I had yesterday at work, I feel obligated to direct the focus of this blog post towards my recent experience. I work at a community centre for the Out of School Care program (daycare outside of school hours) for children aged 5-8. Our program has a strict no-technology rule; this means that their cell phone (YES, 8 year old children today have WORKING cell phones), Nintendo DS, iPad, iPhone, tablet, and any other sort of electronic device they may possess must stay in their backpacks. These young children see a gorgeous view of a sunset and talk about how they want to take a picture and put it on Instagram. They threaten each other by saying they will say something bad about the other person on Facebook. Another child will say a funny joke and write it down so they can post it later on Twitter. All of these websites contain hyperlinks to direct the user to a similar topic, often using hashtags or other means. MacNeil comments on the “technological advances of recent years” and how literacy and orality have become blurred. The new generation is swamped in a sea of social media — an unedited, unfiltered stream of information available at their fingertips.
As a university student myself, I by no means deny how technology has furthered my education. Even in this class we utilize Facebook and an online blog as our communication tool. The use of hyperlinks provides continuous rounds of resource upon resource of knowledge.
The core of my technology-bashing-rant originates with the children at my community centre. They love to read stories. I have them for about 3 hours every day, most of that time being spent reading aloud to a group of children. The ones most interested in reading are the ones that do not experience it at home — the ones whose parents buy them an expensive device and allow them to roam social networks freely, rather than sit down and actually have a conversation with them. These children do not experience “story time” with their parents because of these technological advances (although I will credit some of it to poor parenting).
My focus here is on the social media and how it impacts story. Social media is used as a way to spread stories instantly. Well known companies, like The Province newspaper, News 1180, sports teams, and other foundations, use social media as a way to share their story and expand their base of viewers.
The word “story” has been used in an interesting way through Snapchat, which is an application that allows you to take a picture, add a caption or comment to it, and send it to friends. The catch with Snapchat is that there is a timer; once you view the picture or video, it is gone (with certain exceptions). Snapchat has recently added an option to “add to your story”, in which the post is up for any of your contacts to see for a mere 24 hours. Here, each individual has the chance to personalize their own “story”, only to have it vanish by the next day. A story told orally can be altered at each reading; a Snapchat story is viewed for the moment then gone before anyone can recall it. It’s interesting how the Snapchat company played on the word “story”, as if a story does not need to be physically kept or even remotely remembered past an expiry date.
Works Cited
Courtney MacNeil, “Orality.” The Chicago School of Media Theory. Uchicagoedublogs. 2007. Web. 16 Jan.
Hello Deanna
What an interesting insight into the youngest members of the social media generation! Definitely a testament to how pervasive these forms of media have really become. I wonder how this engagement with the world of instant information is affecting children developmentally, from a psychiatric perspective. Its excellent that you have the chance to connect with these kids on another level, and draw them out of the world of social media through reading and storytelling, even if its just for a few hours.
Snapchat is a puzzling phenomenon, at least to me. I do not own a smartphone, and have only been exposed to this app through the use of it by my friends. I think you’re right in questioning the app’s use of the word “story” – the ephemeral nature of these transmissions seems antithetical to our understanding of “story”. Yet stories are being extinguished everyday around the world – through the endangerment and destruction of indigenous cultures who rely on oral tradition, for example. In the case of Snapchat, they simply have a far briefer lifespan. Of course, they also have a massive disparity in value, meaning, and substance, in my opinion. This brings me to a point made by our fellow student, Shannon Smith, who wrote that social media is degrading our standard of literature, because the most prevalent information exchanged through these mediums is of relatively little value. I think Snapchat is a perfect example of this – the tiny life span of these stories makes them particularly conducive to be used as carriers of useless information. They possess no burden of permanence – the sender has zero responsibility to enrich them with substance or meaning (unlike traditional oral storytelling). At the risk of talking in circles and becoming tangled in my own thoughts, I will leave it at that. Thank you for sharing your post.
-Stepan
Hi Deanna,
It was great to read about your post because I take a particular interest in teaching children and aspire to teach in foreign countries once I graduate. Hence I find it extremely relevant to read about your experiences with children. I agree that children these days have an undeniably easy access to some sort of technology or even smart phone, and I would further argue that some children even abuse their right in using technology. For example, when computers and the Internet are used for a limited amount of time each day to help with homework, they can be beneficial for students. However, I feel like if you take away a time restriction to use the computer for children then it will be detrimental for them; children will continue surfing the interweb on sites like Youtube, Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms before they realize it’s 4 AM. I also really like how you brought up the new “story” setting on Snapchat. I think their definition of story definitely deviates from the traditional definition where it is more closely related to telling others orally. Nowadays in this modern, “fast paced” era, a story is more associated with an event that happened throughout the time span of 24 hours.
Thanks,
Fiona
Hi Fiona,
Samantha shared an article with me in another comment, and I think you will find it interesting! The article touches on children having access to smartphones/tablets/the internet, and how parents and adults influence our young ones with our own actions. It’s a short, interesting read — I suggest you give it a quick look!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/9282582/How-technology-is-taking-hold-of-our-childrens-lives.html
Hi Deanna,
I think you raise some interesting points from a first-point perspective on how technology is affecting young children. I have to admit that it’s pretty shocking to learn that 5-8 year-olds even know what Instagram and Snapchat are, let alone to hear that they plan tweets and marketing strategies ahead of time! I have often joked with friends that I am happy I grew up in the 90s because it was a time when the closest you got to popular culture was a VHS Disney movie (Aladdin, Lion King, Little Mermaid, all the classics). I got my first cell-phone at the age of fourteen and I was EARLY. When I see kids operating tablets, iPads, and creating Facebook accounts I have to admit the feeling is eery. I have often feared that they are becoming more disconnected from one another, that they may become inept at face-to-face social interaction. Another fear is that they are exposing themselves to the evils social media presents when you don’t have the tools to protect yourself, such as internet bullying, widespread images of doctored beauty, and cyber-sexual activities. Rowan Pelling wrote an interesting article on this for the UK Telegraph, you can read it here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/9282582/How-technology-is-taking-hold-of-our-childrens-lives.html
Here is a quote from that article that resonates with our discussion: “It’s commonplace now to see tots who can’t talk, but can navigate an iPhone with ease, or infants who scowl when they touch a computer screen that doesn’t respond with the immediate elasticity of an iPad.” Frightening isn’t it!
However, I think if we are going to have a healthy debate about this issue than we have to look at the flip-side. Perhaps children’s ability to navigate technology could prove to be extremely helpful in the future. Maybe their technological inclinations will be the key to advancing fields of medicine, science, and research well-beyond what we were able to accomplish in our generation. It could be argued that their fondness for social media at such a young age is just the new way of communicating their thoughts through outlets we didn’t possess as children. To be honest, only time will tell.
Hi Samantha,
Very interesting article! The new generation is extremely tech-savvy, and you make a good point that this is not necessarily a negative thing. I’m in my early 20’s, and people around my age are flabbergasted by the capabilities young children have with technology. Similarly, when my parents my age, they were easily as surprised when companies came out with cell phones. My grandparents were also astonished at the invention of a computer. I’m often in denial when it comes to accepting the newest form of technology, but these advances are helping our world become more successful. Every generation feels like the newer generation has changed drastically — and it’s true! Not only with technology, but with lifestyle and mannerisms as well. For example, I remember one of my elementary school teachers complaining that children now-a-days do not learn their manners; I’ve also distinctly caught myself repeating the exact same thing 20 years later! It’s amazing to see how technology (and our lives in general) progress.
Deanna,
Thank you for sharing such a wonderful story about how technology is influencing the way children see the world. I’m thinking right now about how technology and its utilities are almost always augmented and policed through differences in age (and experience.) I wonder if you’ve seen this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXV-yaFmQNk of a toddler navigating an iPad and a magazine side by side. I think this really illustrates how the role of technology is situated upon and by what we grow up with. I wonder what the future of daycares will look like in say, fifty years, when the kids growing up with technology like iPads and smart phones as their ‘first language’ whereas folks like me or you have had to learn or be encultured into this language. I’m particularly interested in how ‘technology’ or ‘story’ as a tool of oration become blurred together when we look back in history at say, the advent of typewriters and their influence on letter-writing. I’d like to think of critiques of Instagram or Facebook as fairly modern conversations but the more I read historical accounts of technological productions, the more I’m convinced that we’ve been having such conversations for hundreds of years. http://xkcd.com/1227/ This webcomic is a fairly-well researched discussion of text, story, and technology across time and I think has a lot to do with the daycare ‘no technology’ time.
-daniel
Work Cited
“A Magazine Is an IPad That Does Not Work.” Prod. UserExperiencesWorks. Youtube. Youtube, 6 Oct. 2011. Web. 22 Jan. 2014.
Munroe, Randall. “The Pace of Modern Life.” Cartoon. XKCD. XKCD, 19 June 2013. Web. 22 Jan. 2014.
Thank You Deanna 🙂
Hi Deanna,
Thank you for your thoughtful post regarding the role of social media and technology diminishing the ability or desire to sit down and read, or tell an oral story.
What I find most interesting about Snapchat, is that the concept of telling a story through this pathway completely contradicts the foundation of storytelling, as explained in Thomas King’s “The Truth About Stories”. King writes:
“Once a story is told, it cannot be called back. Once told, it is loose in the world. So you have to be careful with the stories you tell. And you have to watch out for the stories that you are told.”
Interesting, as Snapchat allows the platform to send a picture, video, or picture and text story to someone, only to have it disappear. Do these stories disappear? I would like to believe so, as I have sent my fair share of unattractive quadruple chin selfies when I apparently have nothing better to do. I also find it hard to believe that they are truly “gone” – can anything disappear into cyber world to never be tracked down again?
It does at times frighten me how technologically savvy the younger generations are. My cousin’s child, at less than 2 years of age, could take her parent’s iPhone, swipe across, enter the unlock code, swipe to the screen with her games on it, and begin to engage in iPhone game heaven. The first time I saw this I literally just stared – the process was so engrained and natural.
On the topic of story telling, I encourage you to watch this TED Talk regarding the evolution of storytelling. As Joe Sabia says, storytelling has evolved from pictures on cave walls, to pictures and words on Facebook walls. Throughout the TED talk he uses technology to aid in the story telling, depicting images to correspond with his discussion. Engaging, yes, but I find it almost humorous how easily he can tell a story about storytelling through the use of simple Google search images.
Here’s the link: http://www.ted.com/talks/joe_sabia_the_technology_of_storytelling.html
Storytelling now, at it’s core, is still the same as when it started “at the dawn of mankind” as my Creative Writing teacher so put it. Storytelling, whether through internet, books, verbal, or images, is still the exchange of information and ideas from one source to another. From one person to thousands via the internet, or from a parent to a child as they drift of to sleep.
I am not against the use of technology, and the advances it brings about in the evolution of storytelling, and the capability it provides people to share their story. I am slightly worried about the heavy dependency of it for the younger generations, but I hope that through a combination there of, storytelling continues to evolve in an interesting and exciting manner.
Best,
Gillian